Army of Angels
by dani2theela
Summary: Adam Ruzek is in pursuit of a suspect and finds himself alone in an alley. What happens and what does Kim Burgess have to say about it?
1. Chapter 1

"Police! Stop!"

Adam Ruzek was running after the suspect to their current murder case, making himself known to the guy multiple times. Starting as a witness, having his alibi repealed, becoming a suspect in the process, the dead girl's junkie boyfriend figured that the only way out was through running for his life and finding a spot to hide. He had underestimated the fitness of the officer behind him, though, and slowly his legs started to betray him.

"I said, stop!", Ruzek called again, but the other man didn't stop, but turned a corner.

Adam did the same, running into an alley which held about a dozen big dumpsters on each side. The alarm bells in his head began to ring and he drew his firearm. The young officer cautiously started to make his way through the alley, his index finger on the trigger, ready to shoot when it was neccessary.

With each step he tool he neared the first dumpster and his heart started beating fast, the adrenaline shooting through his body. If he wasn't careful enough, he was an easy target.

"Ruzek, what's your 20?", his radio crackled and his hand shot there immediately.

Voight.

Great, the other guy must've definitely heard it and knew that Adam on his trail.

"North, two blocks away in an alley in pursuit of the suspect. Requesting radio-silence."

"Copy that. On our way."

Adam turned his radio off and continued on his way through the alley. He stopped close to the dumpster next to him, breathed in heavily twice before turning quickly to see what was behind the dumpster, his gun leading the way. Nothing. He huffed and continued to the next dumpster, mirorring his previous moves. Again, nothing. Only about 10 more to go.

Just then he heard a gunshot, that missed him by several feet. Adam took cover behind the dumpster closest to him and waited for another shot. When it didn't come, he peeked his head up, only to fall back down again when another bullet hit the top of his hiding spot. This time the impact was just inches away.

"Chicago Police! Drop the gun!", Ruzek called out.

He knew it wouldn't help any, but procedure was procedure and he would be damned if this guy would get free because Ruzek alledgedly forgot to identify himself as CPD.

The only answer he got was another shot, hitting way too close. He instinctively touched his kevlar vest and felt a little more safe. Of course, he remembered that he had put it on prior to the raid, but feeling it underneath his fingers once again gave him a certain feeling of reassurance and safety. He would get out of this. Alive.

Then his mind drifted briefly. He thought of Burgess, how she'd wait for him at the precinct and how she'd give him a lecture about pulling a stunt again and wanting to get the job done by himself instead of waiting for back-up. After all, she was an officer herself and she knew the drill. And she knew the team. The team that would never let him do anything stupid by himself.

A bullet fired from the suspect brought him back into reality.

"Alright, alright, you got my attention", Adam mumbled and tightened the grip on his gun.

Judging by the amount of bullets that had been fired by the other guy, there shouldn't be many left in the magazine. But the guy was a junkie with ties to guys with enough guns and ammo. Who knew what he was packing. Ruzek just hoped that his opponent's luck would run out. Soon.

Turning away from the dumpster and taking a step into the open, Adam fired two bullets from his own gun and went back into the safety of his hiding spot. There were two more shots and then nothing. The other guy must've used up his entire magazine.

Ruzek smiled and saw himself bringing the guy in hand cuffs to the rest of his team, but before he knew it, he heard steps right next to him and a gun pressed to his temple.

"Drop the gun." Adam did as he was told.

"Now get up", the junkie demanded.

As ordered, the young officer got up from his kneeling position and looked at him. The glassy eyes and the red circles under his eyes told Ruzek that it had been quite some time since he got his last fix. Still, his aim was pretty good and his hands weren't shaking at all. His lips twitched on the right side, though, and, oh my god, what was that smell? But Ruzek wouldn't be Ruzek and a part of the Intelligence unit if he couldn't handle a junkie – in the early stages of withdrawal, he added in his head.

"You don't know what you're doin', man", Ruzek said in a lazy drawl.

"Shut up, asshole!"

The officer whinced. That wasn't a good choice of words right there. It only made him punch the other guy in the face even more.

"What did you just say?"

He took a step forward, which made the junkie even more nervous, causing him to take two steps backwards and lowering the gun at Adam's chest.

"I said, shut the fuck up, asshole!"

Now his hands were shaking. Ruzek was trained for situations like these. Taking this junkie's gun while he was in withdrawal should be a piece of cake. Like taking candy from a five year old. Another step forward, a single jump towards the other man, his right arm pushing down the hand that held the gun, taking it into his grip, disarming him, pinning him to the ground, getting him booked and – boom – case closed. Easy, right?

But now his hands were shaking like leaves in the wind and Adam couldn't stop thinking about how trigger-happy his fingers seemed, uncontrollably trigger-happy. If he was going to do something about it, he should do it fast. He couldn't wait for the rest of the team to arrive.

"Aw man, put that down, will ya?", Ruzek said and tilted his head to the side.

For one split second, the suspect seemed confused in what the other man wanted from him, a fragment of a second in which he was unfocused, giving the officer the chance to jump him. And that he did, just like he had planned it out in his head. But it didn't quite go as planned, because the junkie fought back with all his strength, making it impossible for Adam to disarm him.

Then there was a shot. The air was taken out of Ruzek's lungs by a massive blow. His body was hitting the ground. Pain was shooting up from his chest, stretching out into his arms, legs and his head. His sight was turning blurry and then into complete blackness. Then another shot rang in his ears and he waited for the pain and – as much as it was a cliché – the light at the end of the tunnel. He waited for his death.

Seconds passed and none of it happened, instead, he saw the dead body of the junkie lying on the ground next to him when he opened his eyes. Adam still wasn't able to breathe and coughed.

"It's alright, buddy", he heard Alvin say, "we gotcha."

Ruzek could feel someone ripping off his vest and checking for injuries.

"You're good, Adam. There's no wound."

It still hurt like hell. And having the vest off his chest only helped in small portions. Slowly, he could feel the ability to breathe coming back, but every breath still hurt like someone was stabbing him with a knife.

"Let me help you sit up."

Coughing again, he felt way better and his sight wasn't too blurry anymore.

Looking at the former suspect - former everything to be exact -, he frowned. "Is he...?"

"Yeah..."

"What happened?", the raspy voice of Hank Voight got to his ears. Coughing in between words, he answered,

"I...I tried...tried to arrest him...didn't work out well."

"No kidding", the older man answered, "you should've waited for us."

"Sorry", Ruzek said and it was the only thing he could think of right now.

"We're gonna talk at the precinct. Get yourself checked out at a hospital. Olinsky, take him there and see that he gets seen to as soon as possible. We'll meet back at the office."

Said officer extended out a hand to help his younger colleague up. As soon as he was standing, Alvin slapped him on the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For being so stupid."

"I just got shot!"

"Don't act like a little girl, Ruzek. Let's go. I bet Burgess wants to kick your ass for your behaviour."

Damnit, he totally forgot about that. Not about her, he never would. Just that she would be utterly mad at him for this. She'd make his life a living hell. Now he wished that bullet would've graced his arm or went into his leg, some minor injury, that would give him only minor pain, but the compassion from his colleagues. And maybe a medal.


	2. Chapter 2

Officer Kim Burgess hated waiting. All her life she had hated waiting for things: an answer to a question, the grade for an exam, Christmas Eve, for her to be old enough to go to the Academy, for the day Adam Ruzek would come knocking at her door, telling her he wants her. Most of the time, the waiting was worth the while. Especially the Adam part. But now, there was no way the time she spent waiting would get her to some sort of reward. There was no positive side to this – except that he was alive and well – and she was mad, really mad. She knew that she couldn't change Adam for what he was. His constant drive to prove himself to Olinsky and Voight, a young officer in pursuit of his career goal. But more than often his improvisation and affinity to pull stunts like today put him in danger. The kind of danger that got you killed. She couldn't tell him to stop, either. Of course, he'd promise her that he'd never do it again, like the million times he had before, but in the end his destructive compulsion got the better of him. All she could do was to trust his team to get him out of situations like these alive, or prevent them. And she had to trust Adam not to get himself killed.

Kim had heard Voight talking about how Adam had gotten shot in the line of duty. Her heart had stopped beating for a moment and she had closed her eyes, hoping that he'd be okay and not bleeding out on an operation table. But then she had heard him saying that Adam was alright, his kevlar vest had stopped the bullet and how lucky he had been that the perp shot him from a distance. Burgess had noticed herself breathe again and had felt relieved that Adam was okay. Just a few seconds later that relief had been replaced by anger. Once again, he had done it again. Voluntarily taking down a dangerous man by himself without any back-up. Putting himself in the line of fire, of danger, with one foot in Hell (no, he wouldn't go to Heaven, Kim was sure).

She heard someone knock on the door of her appartment. She sighed and got up from the couch, not bothering to turn off the TV. She already knew who it was before she checked the peep hole and opened the door.

"Hi" was the only thing she said, but she wasn't looking at him while saying it.

Walking back into the living room, she heard Adam close the door without a word. She hadn't even looked at him before walking away. He should suffer from her giving him the cold shoulder, burn in the fires of her anger before he got any excuses out. He hadn't even bothered to call her to tell her he was okay!

They didn't say anything for what seemed like hours, but only a couple of minutes after Adam had entered Kim's appartment, he closed the gap between them and touched her arm.

She looked at him and he realized that the lecture he was dreading would be starting now. But strangely enough, it didn't and she turned away to turn off the TV.

Adam cleared his throat. "Say something."

"I just did."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he asked, "You mad at me?"

"Mad at you? No! What for? You didn't go all John McClane on your team and tried to save the day on your own. You didn't get shot. You didn't take any unnecessary risks today. At. All." She was ranting away before she could stop herself. She had sworn to herself that she'd ignore him as long as she could until he'd squirm in front of her, his explanations and excuses filling the room. Oh yes, she was mad.

"It's my job, Burgess. You of all people should know that."

"Of course I do!", she replied louder than anticipated and stabbed the air with her finger, "I'm a cop, too. But that doesn't mean that I run around chasing after dangerous suspects single-handedly."

"I didn't know he was armed."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's your excuse?"

"I don't need excuses for doing my job."

"You almost got yourself killed. That's NOT your job. If at all, it's mine, because I really wanna kill you right now."

If this situation wouldn't be so damn serious, he'd throw in a laugh right now and tell her that she didn't, but that wouldn't help him right now, not in the slightest.

He watched her face closely and was amazed when the flames of anger in her eyes turned into flashes of something else. She narrowed her eyes when she noticed him looking at her, afraid of showing the change in her emotions. Adam knew she was stubborn, it's what made her so successful in doing her job, and the sudden change of heart was something she'd never admit freely. He saw it as a chance to get closer to her and once again reduced the space between them to a comfortable minimum. Comfortable enough for her not to step away from him again.

Kim looked at her boyfriend. This time, he was sure what he saw in her eyes: concern, pain and fear.

"You almost got yourself killed", she repeated herself.

The tone in her voice mirrored the emotions shown in her eyes. It made his gut clench and his heart hurt. He had been prepared for a lecture, for rage, for anger, but not for this. He was torn between taking the first step and just pull her into a kiss or waiting for her to take the first step.

He sat down on the back rest of the couch. "I'm sorry", he whispered, barely audible for her to hear.

And that was what broke her facade. She sighed before walking up to him, taking his face into her hands and kissing him.

"You're an idiot", she said when she broke the kiss, "I can't loose you, Adam, I need you here."

He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. "I know."

"I know you have to do your job but does it hurt you to just play it a little more safe? For your own sake? For me?"

"You know I can't promise you anything, but I promise you this", he said and drew her closer to him by wrapping his arm around her waist, "in a couple of years, John McClane will look pale compared to what I have achieved."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

When he pulled her down for another kiss, it made her forget completely why she was mad at him. Hell, it made her forget everything but him.

She had to pull herself together before she said, "I'm still mad at you, you know?"

A soft growl out of his throat made her stomach flutter, "Oh yeah, you are."

Standing, he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him. "Let's see what we can do about that."

And with that, he walked towards the bedroom, his lips never leaving hers as he navigated them through the hall by memory, trying not to bump into anything. She had given him the reasons why she was mad at him, now it was his turn to rethink her position. No, scratch that, he was going to make it impossible for her to think.


End file.
